Surgery
While you wait for your transplant, you will carry a beeper or a cell phone. When a liver becomes available, a nurse coordinator will contact you and instruct you on next steps. You will be admitted to the hospital and the transplant staff will guide you in your preparation for surgery.
For living donors and recipients, the surgery can be planned.
The surgery can take from 6 to 12 hours, depending on the patient’s medical condition and previous surgeries. After surgery, the patient goes to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), usually for 24 to 48 hours. The expected length of hospital stay for an uncomplicated liver transplant is 7 days.
